Applicators for attaching terminals to electrical conductors are generally received in a larger press or power unit that provides the power and physical motion to actuate the applicator and effect the crimping operation. These applicators include a ram that is guided within an opening in a ram housing and arranged to undergo reciprocating motion along a ram axis. The ram housing is an integral part of a frame and includes a base portion having a crimping anvil attached thereto that mates with upper crimping tooling mounted to the ram. The ram housing and frame are typically cast as a single integral part. A terminal feed mechanism operated by the reciprocating ram is attached to the frame so that it can engage a strip of terminals being fed from a reel and feed them into the crimping station of the applicator in timed relation to movement of the ram. Examples of such an applicator are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,184,950 which issued May 25, 1965 to Sitz and 5,483,739 which issued Jan. 16, 1996 to Smith et al. Both of these patents disclose applicators having closed ram structures wherein the ram housings completely encircle their respective rams when viewed along the ram's axis. That is, each ram housing has a rectangular opening formed by four walls and the ram has four outer walls in sliding engagement with the four walls of the opening. The upper crimping tooling is mounted to one of the outer walls of the ram but necessarily leaving a portion of the outer wall exposed on either side for engagement with the respective wall of the opening. A corresponding groove is formed in the opening wall opposite the tooling to provide clearance. There are several known disadvantages of this closed ram structure such as difficulty in changing the upper crimping tooling and difficulty is accessing the ram for attachment of actuating mechanisms for operating the terminal feed unit or other features such as an insulation stripper. To alleviate these problems, an applicator structure has been developed that leaves several outer surfaces of the ram exposed for more ready access. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,977 , which discloses an applicator having an open ram structure. Since these open rams are very accessible, they are occasionally grasped when manually handling the applicator. Typically, these rams are not held captive to the applicator thereby increasing the likelihood that the applicator will be dropped when it is manually moved by grasping the ram.
What is needed is an applicator with an open ram structure having a device for retaining the ram captive to the applicator frame, yet is easily accessible by the operator for disabling so that the ram can be removed when desired.